Kamer Nizamdeen granted bail

Colombo (News1st): Kamer Nizamdeen, the Sydney university student who faced terrorism charges over an alleged plot to kill several Australian Government members was granted bail after the sole piece of evidence against him was found to be “inconclusive”. Kamer Nizamdeen, was arrested in August after a colleague found a notebook allegedly containing details of plans to kill Turnbull and attack iconic landmarks such as the Opera House. Police accused him of planning a lone-wolf attack. But today a court heard the sole piece of evidence against Nizamdeen – a notebook in which police alleged he had laid out his plot – was not his handwriting. The prosecution had become aware that an expert handwriting examiner found an inconclusive result on the relevant entries contained in the notebook. Without a conclusive expert opinion suggesting the defendant was the relevant author, evidence for the charge has been significantly weakened. The ABC reported that the court heard other material belonging to Nizamdeen including his computer and mobile phone did not reveal any extremist ideology. After the hearing Nizamdeen’s lawyer, Moustafa Kheir, said his client had been “granted bail because the case against was extremely weak, almost non-existent”. Nizamdeen has spent the last four weeks in jail while his family and supporters have maintained he is innocent. Last week, hundreds of people gathered in Sri Lanka to protest his treatment in prison. Nizamdeen's lawyer said police had conducted eight hours of interviews with the student which also did not uncover anything against the suspect. Nizamdeen has been in Australia on a student visa completing his post-graduate studies. He has no criminal history, and had appeared in online promotional material for the University of New South Wales, where he worked. The matter will return to court in October.